


The North Pole

by jar_full_of_honey



Category: NCIS
Genre: F/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-18
Updated: 2019-12-18
Packaged: 2021-02-25 22:02:32
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,553
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21852640
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jar_full_of_honey/pseuds/jar_full_of_honey
Summary: What we should have gotten at the end of 17x10.
Relationships: Jethro Gibbs/Jacqueline "Jack" Sloane
Comments: 5
Kudos: 106





	The North Pole

She was about to turn off the lights in her apartment to go to sleep and hopefully forget about this day, this year and everything it had promised her when her phone rang. For a second she debated to just ignore the insisting ringing but in the end the professional side of her won out. As usual. When she saw his name on the display, she hesitated another second but couldn’t bring herself to hang up on him. 

“Sloane.” She hoped her tone made it very clear that she wasn’t in the mood for a chat or anything else for that matter. “Jack, I need you to get over here.” His tone didn’t give anything away and Jack felt anger rise inside her. She wasn’t his puppet. He couldn’t just demand something and expect her to jump. “Gibbs, I had a long day. I’m tired. Whatever you so desperately need at 11:45 pm will have to wait till tomorrow.” She wasn’t up for his games tonight. Not when it was Christmas eve. Not when everything she had been able to think about these last few days was him. She needed a break. To get her act together and to collect her thoughts.

“Jack, it’s about Phin. He is… I don’t know what to do. He just lost his mother and I… he won’t stop crying.” She heard him let out a long-held breath. “I don’t know what to do with him, how to explain that his mother, the person he loved the most, was an international terrorist who killed a lot of people. Who tried to kill my family.” 

She didn’t say anything for a long time. Silently debating with herself about what to do. “Jack, you still there?” She sighed. “Yes.” Another minute of silence followed before “I’ll be there in ten.” She hung up on him before he could say something else. 

True to her words she opened his front door ten minutes later and stepped in the front hall. After shrugging out of her coat and hanging it up by the door she made her way upstairs, down the hall and towards the guest bedroom she herself had occupied on more than one occasion. Stopping in front of the door she listened for a second. The heartbreaking sobs of Phineas made her heart crack and she instantly hated herself for even thinking about not showing up just because she didn’t want to talk to Gibbs. She took a last deep breath before carefully pushing the door open and walking in.

It took them 2 hours and a lot of reassurance until Phineas finally surrendered to sleep. There was nothing they could do tonight to make him feel any better and Gibbs hoped for a clearer start tomorrow.

When he followed Jack down the stairs he had, for the first time in weeks, the opportunity to really study her. She looked tired and worn out. Her shoulders hung long and her body  
language was hostile. It did and didn’t surprise him at the same time when she walked directly over to the front door, pulling her coat on and grabbing her car keys from the site table. 

“Where are you going?” The first and only thought in her head was that he was standing way to close for her to focus. Immediately she took a step back. She couldn’t do this. Not know. She was angry with him and with herself. Nothing good would come out of an anger-filled argument tonight. “I’m going home. To sleep and refill.” She hoped he would receive the message that she wasn’t in the mood to talk but apparently, he wanted to make a point as much as she wanted to make one. It just happened to be a completely different one. 

“You can do that here.” The casualty with which he said it provoked her in a way she couldn’t quite explain but before she had time to analyze her chain of thoughts her temper had already taken over. 

“Can I?” The question dripped with sarcasm and now even Gibbs realized that something was really off. It wasn’t like Jack to snap at him in such a manner. He titled his head to the site and looked her over again. Glaring at her as if that would make her somehow less… weird. 

But she was already riled up. He wanted to have that conversation now? Well she could give it to him. Grabbing his shirt lapel, she pulled him towards the basement, shoving him down the stairs and closing the door tightly behind her before rushing down the stairs herself. The only thing that had kept her from starting a shouting match in his front hall was the little boy upstairs who had just fallen asleep and had had enough trauma for one day. Probably enough for the rest of his life. 

“What the hell is wrong with you Gibbs?” She was at his throat before he could even get one word out. “What is your fucking problem? I’m not your toy. And I’m certainly not your puppet. You can’t just call me whenever you want and expect me to jump to attention. I’m…” She stopped because she suddenly realized there were tears welling up in her eyes. She hated the kind of tears that came from anger. She knew she was tiptoeing a fine line between an aggressive outburst and a mental breakdown, but she just wanted to bring all of this behind her. 

“I’m tired and I’m done. Done with you pulling me close one second and then pushing me away the next one. I’m done with your silence and I’m certainly done trying to get you to open up. I’m done worrying about you when you disappear for hours. I’m done lying awake at night thinking about you. I’m done hoping for a Christmas miracle where you suddenly realize what has been right before your eyes all the time.” 

She let out a breath she didn’t even realize she held. All the anger she had felt seconds before was like blown away. And all it had left in its wake was sadness and pain. “I’m done fighting Jethro.” And she meant it. She had reached her limit. She couldn’t go any further. She was already hurting too much and she knew if she got deeper invested without him being all in… she would crumble. 

He was relieved that the first time she said his name wasn’t in anger. But he hated that she said it while she was clearly hurting. And the worst thing was that he knew she was right. With everything. Everything she had thrown into his face was true. He didn’t know what he’d thought how long she would bear him but even the great Jaqueline Sloane had limits. And apparently, he had just overstepped one of them. 

She turned around to leave when she realized she likely wouldn’t get an answer. She could hear him thinking and she didn’t have the time or the energy to wait around until he was done. But even before she reached the stairs, he stopped her. Not physically but with words instead. “I’m sorry.” She had never heard these words out of his mouth and it surprised and frightened her at the same time. She turned around slowly and looked at him. Realizing he was just as surprised as she was. “I don’t want you to leave.” She blinked a few times, realizing what he had just said and understanding that they stood at a crossroad. This could either make them or break them. 

“Then give me a reason to stay.” That’s all she wanted from him. She didn’t want everything; wasn’t even sure she could handle everything. But she wanted something. Something she could hold on to. Something that was hers and hers alone. 

But when he stepped forward and into her and hesitated only a second before lowering his mouth to hers, she suddenly realized that wasn’t an option. He would give everything or nothing. That’s just how he did things. And when he offered her everything in this one moment, there was no doubt she was going to take all of it. Even if she was scarred. Even if she wasn’t sure they would make it. She wanted this and him and everything that came with him. 

When he pulled away from her, she had to gasp for air. His only response was a smirk that took 10 years off his face. “That reason enough for you?” She noticed his sarcasm for what it was but didn’t care at all. Instead she stepped into him again. Pressing the full length of her body up against him. Smirking herself as she saw the lust in his eyes. 

“You think you can handle yourself cowboy?” She wasn’t joking now and he knew it. She wanted to know if he was really all in and she deserved to know. “When I can put up with you for so long I sure as hell can handle myself.” It wasn’t exactly what she wanted to hear but it had to do for now. Until she would start their next shouting match in his basement and he would just have to push her into the boat and kiss her until she’d shut up.


End file.
